Union members heckle during ceremony at Quincy YMCA

Discord between labor unions and the South Shore YMCA continued to escalate Tuesday, as union members used a megaphone to heckle a Y ceremony that included singing high school choir students.

By Jack Encarnacao

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Jack Encarnacao

Posted May. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 22, 2013 at 10:04 PM

By Jack Encarnacao

Posted May. 22, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated May 22, 2013 at 10:04 PM

QUINCY

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Discord between labor unions and the South Shore YMCA continued to escalate Tuesday, as union members used a megaphone to heckle a Y ceremony that included singing high school choir students.

Supporters gathered at the site of the new $30 million Y on Coddington Street in Quincy to mark the hoisting of the final beam onto the building frame. The occasion was marked by a rendition of ‘‘The Star Spangled Banner’’ by the Quincy High School choir.

Throughout the event, union members shouted things like “Shame on Callahan!”, a reference to general contractor Callahan Construction. Callahan did not hire union subcontractors for most of the project.

About a half-dozen council members chanted from Coddington Street, including sheet metal workers business agent Edward Foley of Weymouth, who heckled workers eating lunch.

“Go ahead; go have your lunch!” Foley said through a megaphone. “Who paid for it? Callahan paid for it, by taking the wages out of workers pockets, taking the food off their table!”

Foley could also be heard shouting about eroding community standards and wages during the high school choir’s patriotic songs.

“It was off-putting,” said Ciana Bonfiglioli, 18, a senior in the choir. “Everyone was so nice and we have these people screaming at us on the sidelines.”

In an interview, Foley said he “didn’t know anybody was singing” while he was protesting. He said the union takes exception to the Quincy Y bucking other YMCAs, namely in West Roxbury and Hyde Park, in insisting on union-scale wages and benefits on their projects.

“It only creates a race to the bottom,” Foley said. “We wanted to highlight that.”

Relations between organized labor and the Y have been tense since the inception of the Quincy project.

Unions have longstanding issues with Callahan, including fighting with them during the controversial construction of a new Hanover High School.

Two months ago, members of IBEW Local 103 launched a campaign to pressure local restaurants to pull out of the Y’s annual “Taste of the South Shore” fundraiser.

South Shore YMCA marketing director Sara Trubiano said in a statement that Tuesday’s ceremony was “in recognition of all the working men and women, both union and nonunion, who are building this new facility for our community.”

“During today’s Topping Off ceremony, 35 percent of the workers on site were union, including the iron workers who put that final steel beam in place,” Trubiano said.